4)1 



UUCKS. 



WCKS. 



431 



to moult their feathers, enriching the fowlera with this* desirable 

 nMrchandii*." Willughby !*> reniarks that " when its young one* 

 u hatched it take* them to the sea, and never looks at bud till next 

 breeding time, nor is seen anywhere about our coasts." This early 

 account is in the main correct, but there are two kinds of eider-down 

 the lire-down, as it is termed, and the dead-down ; the latter, 

 which U considered to be very inferior in quality, is that taken from 

 the dead bird. The down of superior quality, or live-down, is that 

 which the duck strips from herself to cherish her eggs. Its lightness 

 and elasticity are such, it is asserted, that two or three pounds of it 

 squeezed into a ball which may be held in the hand, will swell out to 

 such an extent as to fill a case large enough for the foot covering of a 

 bed. It is collected in the following manner : The female is suffered 

 to lay her fire or six eggs, which are about three inches in length and 

 two in breadth. These, which are very palatable, are taken, and 

 she (trips herself a second time to supply the subsequent eggs. If 

 this second batch be abstracted, the female being unable to supply any 

 more down, the male plucks his breast, and his contribution is known 

 by its pale colour. The last deposit, which rarely consists of more 

 than two or three eggs, is always left ; for if deprived of this their 

 last hope the bereaved birds forsake the inhospitable place ; whereas, 

 if suffered to rear their young, the parents return the following year 

 with their progeny. The quantity of down afforded by one female 

 during the whole period of laying ia stated at half a pound neat, the 

 quantity weighing nearly a pound before it is cleansed. Of this down 

 Trail states that the Iceland Company sold in one year (1750) as much 

 as brought 6501. sterling, besides what was sent to Oliickstadt 





- -SW- , 

 BUsr-DMk (Somalia mollluim^, male ind female. 



Jb haunU ofl birdi icapable of producing so valuable an article are 

 not unlikely to be objeoU of peculiar car.. We accordingly find that 

 u. Iceland aNrV the district. re*>rUd to by thenTa^ reckoned 



P^i IF'T&L^ .*? tnct >.PJ. Every one is anxious 

 to indue* th Kid*, to take up lbr poaition on his own estate ; and 

 wba h-jr .how a duposition to settle on.any i.kt the proprietor DM 

 b~. known to rwv. th. catti. and dogs 'to the mainUd bte 

 to tnak* way for a more valuable stock which might be otherwise 

 d-turW. In sotMcaac. artificial ialets have been aide by separating 

 prucuou tones from the continent; and them eidcr-tenementa are 

 hutiUd down from faUur to son like any other inheritance Not 

 I an tiife care to keep the bird* nndi-t.irU-1. th-y are not, 



as we Rhall presently see, scared by the vicinity of man, in some place* 

 at least We proceed to give the personal observations of some of 

 those who have visited eider-settlements : " When I visited the 

 Kara Isles," writes Pennant (it was on the 15th of July, 1769), " I 

 found the ducks sitting, and took some of the nests, the base of which 

 was formed of sea-plants and covered with the down. After separating 

 it carefully from the plants it weighed only three-quarters of an ounce, 

 yet was so elastic as to fill a larger space than the crown of the greatest 

 hat. These birds are not numerous on the isles, and it was observed 

 that the drakes kept on those most remote from the sitting-places. 

 The ducks continue on their nests till you come almost close to them, 

 and when they rise are very slow flyers. The number of eggs in each 

 nest was from three to five, warmly bedded in the down, of a pale 

 olive colour, and very large, glossy, and smooth." Horrebow declares 

 that one may walk among these birds while they are sitting without 

 scaring them ; and Sir George Mackenzie, during his travels in Iceland, 

 had an opportunity, on the 8th of June at Vidoe, of observing the 

 Kiiler-Ducks, at all other times of the year perfectly wild, assembled 

 for the great work of incubation. The boat in its approach to the 

 shore passed multitudes of these birds, which hardly moved out of 

 the way ; and between the landing-place and the governor's house it 

 required some caution to avoid treading on the nests, while the drakes 

 were walking about even more familiar than common ducks, and 

 uttering a sound which wrs like the cooing of doves. The ducks were 

 sitting on their nests all round the house, on the garden wall, on the 

 roofs, nay even in the inside of the houses and in the chapel. Those 

 which had not been long on the nest generally left it when they were 

 approached ; but those that had more than one or two eggs sat per- 

 fectly quiet and suffered the party to touch them, though they some- 

 times gently repelled the intrusive hand with their bills. But if a 

 drake happen to be near his mate when thus visited he becomes 

 extremely agitated. He passes to and fro between her and the sus- 

 picious object, raining his head and cooing. 



M. Audubon saw them in great numbers on the coast of Labrador 

 where, by the way, the down is neglected employed about tin ir 

 nests, which they begin to form about the end of May. They arrive 

 there and on the coaats of Newfoundland about the first of that 

 month. The eggs were of a dull greenish-white, and smooth, from 

 6 to 10 in number. The nest was usually placed under the shelter 

 of a low prostrate branched and dwarf fir; and sometimes there 

 were several under the same bush, within a foot or two of each 

 other. The ground-work of the nests consisted of sea-weeds and 

 moss, and the female did not add the down till the eggs were laid. 

 The duck, having at this time acquired an attachment for her eggs, 

 was easily approached, and her flight was even and rather slow. 

 Audubon states that, as soon as incubation has commenced, the males 

 leave the laud, and join together in large flocks out at sea : they 

 begin to moult in July, and soon become so bare as to be scarcely 

 able to rise from the water. By the 1st of August, according to the 

 same author, scarcely an Eider-Duck was to be seen on the coast of 

 Labrador. The young, as soon as hatched, are led by the female to 

 the water, where they remain, except at night and in stormy weather. 

 Their greatest feathered enemy is the Saddle-Backed Gull, or Black- 

 Backed Gull (Larui marintu), which devours the eggs and young, but 

 whose pursuit the young, after they have left the nest, elude by 

 diving, at which both old and young are very expert 



According to Bruunich and others, the male utters a hoarse and 

 moaning cry at the pairing time, but the cry of the female is like that 

 of the common duck. Both sexes assist in forming the nest, though 

 the female only site : but the male watches in the vicinity, and gives 

 notice of the danger. This seems to be confirmed by the account 

 given of the nesting-place at Vidoe. Sometimes two females deposit 

 their eggs in the same nest, and sit amicably together. The gulls are 

 not their only enemies in addition to man, for the ravens often suck 

 their eggs and kill their young. At sea, several hatches congregate, 

 led by the females, and there they may be seen splashing the water 

 in the shallows, to beat up the small crustaceans and mollusks, and 

 diving in deeper water for the larger marine animals, among which 

 muscles and other conchifeni, turbiuatcd testaceous, and occasionally 

 Sea-Eggs (Echini) are said to be taken. 



The down above described is the principal .tribute paid by the 

 Eider-Duck to man : but the Indian and GreonUn.ler cat the flesh, 

 which is dark and fishy, and their skin is converted int" :i u.u m 

 inner garment According to Sir W. K. Parry, the Esquimaux 

 Indians catch these birds with springes made <>( whalebone, and 

 take the eggs wherever they can find them. The skin, prepared with 

 the feathers on, forms an article of commerce, partieuliirly with the 

 Chinese. M. Audubon is of opinion that if this valuable bird were 

 domesticated, it would prove a great acquisition, both on account of 

 its down, and its flesh as an article of food ; and he is persuaded that 

 very little attention would effect this. Indeed, it appears that the 

 experiment was made at Eastport with success, but the greater 

 number of the ducks were shot, being taken by gunners for wild 

 birds. The same author says that, when in captivity, it feeds on 

 different kinds of grain and moistened corn-meal, when its flesh 

 becomes excellent Mr. Selby succeeded twice in rearing Eiders from 

 the egg, and kept them alive upwards of a year, when they were 

 accidentally kill-d. 



